WIAA GIRLS HOCKEY - Hurricanes end Medford’s girls season again with 6-0 shutout victory

WIAA GIRLS HOCKEY

For the third straight season, the Hayward Co-op ended the Medford Raiders’ girls hockey season Thursday, but at least this one was a bit more competitive than the first two.

After absorbing double-digit losses to the Hurricanes in 2023 and 2022, the Raiders fell 6-0 this time in the WIAA regional final round of the post-season tournament.

The Hurricanes scored twice in the first period and tacked on four goals in the second to earn their 15th victory of the season and second of the year over the Raiders. They beat Medford 8-0 back on Nov. 28.

The third-seeded Hurricanes (15-9) advanced to Tuesday’s WIAA sectional semifinal at Marathon Park against the second-seeded Central Wisconsin Storm, which it lost 7-3. The Storm hosts topseeded Superior-Northwestern in Friday’s sectional final.

The sixth-seeded Raiders finished 5-14 under first-year head coach Tasha Schmidtfranz.

While this game was closer than several of the previous outings between the teams, the Hurricanes still controlled the action. They outshot Medford 40-3 in the first two periods and finished with a 51-8 advantage in shots on goal.

Brooklyn Griffiths got the first goal of the game just 1:04 in with an assist from Abby Salo. The Raiders then kept the puck out of their net for nearly 13 minutes, but Reese Sheehan, Hayward’s leading goal scorer, got her 33rd of the season at the 14:02 mark to double the home team’s lead. Abby Elliott had the assist.

Savannah Harris scored the first of her two second-period goals at 3:45 with assists from Reece Duncan and Abby Elliott. Olivia Webster made it 4-0 at 8:46 with assists from Brooke Brennan and Gretchen Gajewski.

The Hurricanes put the game away with a quick two-goal flurry late in the period. Harris scored at 13:03 with a Colby Sprenger assist. Elliott set the running clock in motion just 1:03 later with assists from Reese Sheehan and Summer Hammann.

Hayward had an 11-5 advantage in shots in the fast-moving third period.

Raider goal tender Zayleah Leonhardt ended a solid first year as the full-time starter with 45 saves. Greta Woelber went the distance and got the shutout for Hayward.

There were just two penalties in the game, both against the Raiders, who successfully killed off both penalties.

One senior, Jaylin Machon, played her final game with the Raiders. If the roster holds, Medford should bring back a roster heavy in senior and junior experience next season.

“This was a great year,” Schmidtfranz said. “We scored more goals than the last three years and had more shots on goal than the last seven years. I’m very happy and proud of the way this year turned out.”